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MechnoVIT ALUMNI CORNER

The School of Mechanical Engineering helped me identify my calling and my passion for
sustainability. The courses introduced me to renewable energy and environmental issues back in
2012. This had sparked an interest in me to explore more in this area. I identified my purpose soon
after and proceeded to Columbia University to my masters in sustainability management. Today, I’ve
developed my career in Sustainability and will continue to do so. I’ve always been grateful for the best
professors that the University had to offer.
I kept myself quite busy by taking part in multiple extracurricular activities and
engaging in projects outside our classroom. I was a member of Pravega, the VIT
FSAE team & we travelled to Italy for the competition. I loved being a part of the
MechnoVIT inter-collegiate fests. Global Sustainability Manager at BASF,
VIT Drama club and Fashion club, and enjoyed representing our college in various

An all round education is important, and the more exposure
we have, the better we can groom ourselves to being the
Ms. Prerna Chatterjee (2008-2012)
best version of ourselves. I learnt quite a bit through the
extra curricular activities. I learnt how to lead and be
New York, United States.
responsible for a team, how to plan events, how best to
communicate and coordinate multiple activities.
I also learnt to stand up to bullies, and realize the power of speaking up. There’s a lot that can be learnt
outside the classroom that can truly shape us.
As you embark on your journey, here are a few of my learnings from my early 20s that might help
you take life head on.
MechnoVIT • • • • EXPERIENCE is the BEST CURRENCY. Collect as many as you can
NETWORK like your life depends on it, because trust me it does
•
SUCCESS will be BUMPY. Hold on tight
Work culture is evolving to become more casual and less hierarchical, but always respect the
boundaries of professionalism
Continue to live like a STUDENT, being frugal now will bear the sweetest fruits when you need it the
most

One of the most attractive attributes of VIT is that the students from all over the
country gather to study together, giving each and every one of them to learn about
MechnoVIT VIT is the choice given to the students to design their time table based on what they are
different cultures and behaviours of people, while allowing to build networks of peers
both socially as well professionally from all over the country. Another unique attribute of

interested in. As for the extra-curricular activities, I was part of the racing team
“Kshatriya International”, where we made allterrain vehicles for competitions held by the
SAE.
I was able to learn a lot during my time
Mr. Vitesh Shah (2011-2015)
there specially to apply the theoretical
Doctoral Researcher,
knowledge gained from regular classes
into real world situations. Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Germany
I was also able to develop my technical knowledge by meeting and talking to a lot of technicians while being
a part of the team. The School of Mechanical Engineering gave me a solid background in the subject of
MechnoVIT been interested in research and was also curious to know more about materials, I decided to pursue my PhD
mechanical engineering and also introduced me to material science, which I became interested in. This
shaped me to look at my problems as a mechanical engineer as well as a materials scientist. As I have always

after my master’s degree. I find great pleasure in explaining something I am interested in and want to
continue to learn new things. One of my personal challenges in VIT was with communicating with the local
people outside the campus, which I later coped up with, as I also became better at interacting with people
from different backgrounds. I was also able to improve my English while at VIT. My advice to the current
batch of students would to have an open mind to learn skills that are not directly taught in the classroom but
would definitely be of use in their professional lives. A few examples would be coding, which is becoming
more and more vital in every engineer’s lives, and/or presentation and writing skills. As an ending note,
I would like to share a quote that motivates me - “Hard work beats talent, if talent does not do hard work”.
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